


Making it Work

by fid_gin



Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-21
Updated: 2015-03-21
Packaged: 2018-03-18 22:53:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 701
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3587049
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fid_gin/pseuds/fid_gin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>Maybe you don't have to leave that.</i>
  <br/>
  <i>Maybe we stick around here for a while.</i>
  <br/>
  <i>They come back, we'll just make it work.</i>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	Making it Work

**Author's Note:**

> I'm finally getting around to posting all the random _Walking Dead_ fic I've been writing in down moments at work...needless to say, I apparently have a fixation on Daryl and Beth in the funeral home.

A wave of the snarling, shrieking dead. "Beth! Get your shit!" The squeal of tires and her backpack lying in the middle of the road.

Those things never happened.

***

The funeral home is the safest place they've stayed since before everyone got sick at the prison. It takes several nights before Daryl is willing to concede that maybe one of them (usually him) doesn't always need to stay awake all night and keep watch. The first night that they say goodnight and each go to their separate beds is almost like Christmas, and though they don't admit it neither of them gets much sleep, lying awake and thinking of the other in another room.

Their 'redneck brunch' depletes quickly, and no one ever comes back for it. Beth seems almost disappointed that her thank-you note will never be read, but Daryl is relieved. He doesn't want to share this with _anyone_ else: the house, the food. The girl.

A routine develops: he hunts during the day and cleans what he catches, she sets traps, brings water from the well and boils it. Their clothes and their bodies get a much-needed wash. "I don't think I've ever seen you this clean before," Beth remarks when she sees him walking from the bathroom with wet hair. Daryl replies it's a waste of good water.

They find an old motorcycle and Daryl teaches her to ride.

When walkers do come now and then, they are easily picked off from within the house.

Sometimes they talk about the others from the prison and wonder if they made it. Beth cries when she talks about Maggie and Judith, and Daryl feels like shit for having screamed at her that she'd never see her sister again, even if it _is_ true. He comforts her the best he can, and when it turns into something more he rebuffs her because he feels he's taking advantage of her heartache and her gratitude. She eventually convinces him otherwise.

They start sharing a bed. They get condoms on their next supply run.

When people do show up, very rarely, they send them on their way but not without feeding them first and letting them rest. That's just who they are.

Beth tells him about growing up on the farm. Daryl tells her about getting lost in the woods.

After a month or so, Beth decides she's going to go search for the others. "They have to be nearby, don't you think?" Daryl tries to talk her out of it, and when she makes it clear that she'll go with or without him he finally begs her not to go, stops just short of telling her he loves her. Still, she understands, and she stays.

Beth tells him about growing up with a religious, teetotalling father. Daryl shows her his scars, and she traces each of them with her fingers.

They're approached by a man calling himself Aaron, who tells them he's been watching them and invites them to come with him to join a community where he says they'll be safe. Daryl silently keeps his crossbow trained on the man, waiting for a response from Beth, who barely hesitates before she says thanks but no thanks, they're safe where they are. Daryl's not sure who's more surprised: him or Aaron.

"We could'a gone," he says later, after Aaron has departed, the sun has settled in the sky and he's lying in a comfy bed next to the girl he loves. Secretly, he thinks that no damn community could ever offer anything half as good as what they've already got, but he would have gone. For Beth.

"Why?" Beth asks, seemingly honestly curious.

"Maggie could be there." When she doesn't answer right away, he worries that that thought hadn't occurred to her before she'd said no, but then she climbs on top of him.

"I'll see her again if it's meant to be," she says. "In the meantime, I'm happy right here." They fuck like the world is ending, which it pretty much is, but for Daryl Dixon and Beth Greene who never would've met otherwise, they've found a way, no matter how briefly, of making it work. That's all that matters.


End file.
